An orphan in search of a true home wends his way from an orphanage to a cruel apprenticeship with an undertaker to the streets of London where he falls in with a den of thieves who are trained to steal for their master.

David Lean’s inventive, expressionist take on the beloved orphan’s tale is one of the best versions of Charles Dickens brought to the silver screen. The film also continued his collaboration with the great actor Alec Guinness, cementing one of cinema’s most illustrious director-actor partnerships.